Masters Diary - Monday
Shane Lowry of Ireland plays a stroke from the No. 4 tee during the final round of the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 9, 2023.
Weather warning
Augusta National was bathed in brilliant spring sunshine for Masters Monday, but dark clouds are gathering on the horizon.
While Monday brought a high of 77F (25C) and a 5-10 mph southeast breeze, the forecast for Thursday's first round is forbidding.
It will be mostly cloudy and windy, with an 80 pc chance of showers and thunderstorms starting at midnight on Wednesday. Gusts are expected to hit 30 mph.
Friday will be mostly sunny and windy with more 30 mph gusts, while the forecast for Saturday will see the wind drop in intensity and switch to the west and northwest.
Eclipse glasses
At Augusta National, they leave no stone unturned, so it was no surprise that patrons were handed a true collector's item on arrival at the course—a pair of Masters edition eclipse glasses.
Similar to 3D glasses worn in cinemas, the green cardboard glasses were created exclusively for the Masters Tournament by Daystar Filters for "direct observation of the sun."
Augusta National released a statement saying the eclipse, which was only a partial eclipse in the Augusta area, was expected to hit the course from 1:45 p.m. to around 4:20 p.m.
"During the eclipse, please do not look at the sun without appropriate solar glasses," the statement read. "We ask that you exercise caution and be aware of your surroundings while wearing the glasses."
Moving fountains
Course changes are notoriously hard to detect at Augusta National, but one was noticeably conspicuous for early arrivals this week.
The Masters Record Fountain, a stone water fountain left of the 17th green, has been moved to a new location near the clubhouse.
Not only does it bear the names and winning years of every Master champion, it also lists the course records from Ed Dudley's 69 in 1934 to Greg Norman's 63 in 1996.
The newly redesigned fountain has been repurposed as a water bottle filling station for patrons arriving at the course.
The Masters shop now stocks refillable water bottles, all bearing the distinctive Masters logo.
McIlroy's Masters odd shorten
Rory McIlroy has been trimmed from 10-1 to 9-1 to complete a career Grand Slam at the Masters.
The world number two's third-place finish after a closing 66 in the Valero Texas Open sees him as second favourite behind world number one and 2022 champion Scottie Scheffler, who is 4-1 for BoyleSports.
Shane Lowry, who has finished in the top 25 for the last four years, is now 35-1 from 40-1 at a course where he tied for third behind Scheffler two years ago.
Reigning champion Jon Rahm is the shortest-priced LIV Golf star, a 12-1 with 2021 winner Hideki Matsuyama and Xander Schauffele 16-1, Brooks Koepka. 18-1, Jordan Spieth 20-1, LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann 22/1 and major debutant Ludvig Aberg 25-1.
Chamblee doubts McIlroy
Nearly 20 hosts, analysts and reporters will contribute to Golf Channel/NBC's comprehensive studio coverage of the Masters.
One of the biggest segments will be the Live From The Masters primetime team of host Rich Lerner and analysts Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley.
Chamblee once led the Masters after the first round, but he's reserving judgement on Rory McIlroy.
"The person who's under the most mental duress at the Masters is Rory," Chamblee said in a pre-Masters media conference. "You go back and you look, and there's a pattern…his last five Masters, he's averaged 73.8 in the first round.
"That speaks to not being in the right place mentally. He plays his best when it means the least, and he plays his worst when it means the most. We can dive in and parse out technical reasons why that is, but the larger landscape is it's just mental." He added: "If Rory drives it down No. 1 on the first day and he's got a huge hook lie and he hits a soft cut 10 feet beneath the hole, I'll go, 'game on.'
"But if he hits it 30 feet left of the hole above the hole, I'm like, 'here we go again.' So I'll believe it when I see it."
